Hi,
Today, I’m very excited to share The Open Call List’s first long-form audio interview with Emmy Mickevicius, photography curator at the Center for Creative Photography (Tucson, AZ) and the Phoenix Art Museum. Emmy and I discuss a range of topics including portfolio reviews, studio visits, building long-term relationships with curators, museum acquisitions, and more.
In a poll I sent out earlier this year, most readers expressed that they wanted to build relationships with museums, connect with curators, show their work in larger institutions and/or have work acquired. However, I also received a lot of comments from readers who were unclear on how exactly to begin working toward these goals.
In this interview, Emmy and I break down the various avenues through which photographers can build important connections with curators and institutions, as well as what can result from them. Emmy also answers some very direct questions that I think many readers will find helpful, such as, What are the various ways that you can get a museum curator to look at your work? What sorts of things are curators looking for when considering work for shows or acquisitions? And, what separates work that is selected by museums from work that isn’t?
I hope that you will find listening to this conversation as helpful as I found having it. A heartfelt thanks to Emmy for being so generous with her time and insight.
Full interview timestamps are listed below.
Please note: If I’ve done this correctly, free subscribers will have received a brief (~5-minute) preview of the full interview above, whereas paying subscribers will have received the complete 53-minute interview. If you are not yet a paying subscriber, but would like to listen to the complete interview, use the sliding scale links below to upgrade your subscription, then find the complete interview here.
Full Interview Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
02:55 - Instagram + How Curators Find Work
07:35 - Open Calls + Awards
09:51 - Portfolio Reviews
14:01 - Building Long-Term Relationships
17:02 - Preparing for a Portfolio Review
23:55 - One-on-One Meetings with Artists (Outside of Portfolio Reviews)
25:16 - Reaching Out to Curators + Sustained Communication
26:44 - Studio Visits
30:55 - What Makes Work Stand Out?
36:40 - Museum Acquisitions (How and Why They Happen)
48:52 - Final Thoughts + Maximizing Your Opportunities
Subscription Information
The complete version of this interview is available to paying subscribers of The Open Call List. This interview is one of many additional benefits paid subscribers receive. See a list of additional bonus material here.
If you are not yet a paid subscriber of the newsletter, to listen to the full interview, access the weekly Open Call List, and the additional material linked above, use the links below to access the sliding scale price point that is feasible for you:
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At any amount, paid subscriptions support the time and energy I spend finding, vetting, and sharing open calls every week, as well as recording and publishing material like this interview. Thank you!
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Thank you for using and supporting The Open Call List.
If you found this interview helpful and would like me to publish more material like this, please let me know in the comments section of this post.
Warmly,
-Aidan Avery
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